How often do we venture out as photographers to capture a beautiful scene? As it happened the day I shot this image was also the same day an earlier photo was taken with dramatic cloud formation and featuring another tree. Firey skies and black clouds are striking in their impact. This is not one of those photos. It is however a simple exercise in relationships and tones with a helpful diagonal element thrown in (cloud base). The dark tree form is rooted in the solid (also dark) base. The light cloud form above also benefits and is shown up by the darker sky. The tree is also slightly slanted away from the cloud at the top which is 'moving' from left to right of the frame. The tree may be catching a low flying darker cloud (what has this guy been smoking!). It is Friday afternoon....

One more thing on format. Some time ago a photo magazine publisher had a podcast on image format of a newer camera he was using. In particular he pointed out how he was quite taken by the 16 x 9 format it offered him (he could selected that crop factor in the camera menu). He concluded that since becoming used to that format, other crop factors seemed... not quite right. The crop factor of the above image is 4 x 3. The photo wasn't copped afterwards, it was taken like this. Neither are right or wrong. Both can be powerful. Some people never stray from the square.